ENGAGE

Capture & Proposal Capability Maturity

Companies often view captures and proposals as a necessary evil – the cost of doing business.
Firms that continually advance and improve their capture and proposal capabilities leverage these higher competencies into strategic discriminators that give them a distinct advantage over competitors.

The EXA Way starts with an enterprise-wide audit of a client’s Capture and Proposal Capability Maturity. This audit identifies strengths, gaps, and weaknesses in the firm’s ability to consistently win major, complex, competitive contracts. EXA then works with our clients to close the most pressing gaps, leading to increased win rates and market value.

Market Focus

Market focus impacts much more than market segmentation and new client development. Offsets administered through Canada’s Industrial and Technological Benefits and Value Proposition (ITB/VP) policies create increasing pressures on defence contractors to establish long-term investments and relationships. The EXA Way takes on a multifaceted strategic role that shapes program capture, supply chains, and investments.

Waiting to finance an investment until you need the benefits yields no gain.

Smart defence contractors invest in strategicITB/VP arrangements long before an RFP arises, giving them a marked advantageover companies that view ITB/VPs as a transactional marketplace. The EXA Wayhelps companies realign their market focus toward a strategic investment modelthat yields compound returns when bidding on the next ITB/VP program.

See EXA’s digital workshop on Best Value Procurement for a more thorough discussion about strategic ITB/VP investments.

CAPTURE

The EXA Way provides complete cradle-to-grave capture management support.

At the early market segmentation phase, The EXA Way helps clients position their business development and capture strategies in unfamiliar markets. As the capture capability continues, EXA helps identify and qualify pursuit based on strategic, business, and win probability factors.

Once the client selects a target pursuit, The EXA Way supports the capture planning for that opportunity, including timelines, resources, budgets, and win strategies. EXA can help and lead gate review preparation and black hat teams. We also work with executives to support teaming decisions, including corporate teaming structure.

Leading up to the Proposal Phase

As the pursuit approaches the proposal phase, The EXA Way helps ramp up the proposal support systems you will need in time for the RFP release. We also work with the larger capture team, including the proposal manager and the proposed project manager, to help plan the upcoming proposal effort.

EXA delivers proven capture leadership in opportunity qualification, including:

Costing

Pursuit planning

Client intelligence

Gate reviews

Corporate teaming

Early solution development

Client & industry meetings

Black hat analysis

Capture team formation

PROPOSE

The EXA Way proposal leadership process is a proven approach that manages complexity along 3 dimensions:

1) Requirements

EXA uses a proven, high-level RFP requirements management methodology that easily maps onto a requirements management tool, such asDOORS™, or just as easily onto a cluster of spreadsheets, such as Excel™. The EXA Way includes configuration and revision management of RFP documents (through amendments); proposal documents; and support documents. EXA also ensures bidirectional requirements traceability between RFP documents and proposal responses.

2) Document Development

The EXA Way uses a proven, industry-standard approach to distill complex RFP requirements into manageable units, and then we create a detailed proposal outline based on those units. EXA then develops a work package for each author. Each work package includes detailed guidance showing the author how to respond to each requirement, and what information to include.

3) People

As part of the document development process, The EXA Way shepherds the proposal writing through a structured method, including Blue, Pink, Red, and Gold reviews. EXA also supports the proposal final production and delivery.

Strategic Engagment

Strategic planning is easy.
Converting strategic plans into operational success, or strategic engagement, has proven far more problematic.

The EXA Way strengthens internal capabilities and hones market focus to maximize a client’s success long before the next Request for Proposal arrives. Through improved engagements, clients enjoy higher earnings and wider profit margins in downstream pursuits.

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Proposal Leadership

Proposal teams grow exhausted in the last days before the RFP closing date.

‍EXA applies a proven proposal management process that simultaneously manages exhaustion and complexity along three dimensions:

1) RFP Requirements

We use a proven, high-level RFP requirements management methodology that easily maps onto a requirements management tool, such as DOORS™, or just as easily onto a cluster of spreadsheets, such as Excel™, while also ensuring bidirectional traceability between RFP requirements and proposal responses.

2) Document Development

EXA is unique in that we spearhead the writing and reviewing portion of document development. This includes distilling complex RFP requirements into manageable units, using those units to create a detailed outline, and solidifying a work package for each author that guides them through the process. To ensure proposal readiness, we subject each document through four stages of reviews.

3) People

We maintain a cadre of management, technical, financial, and ITB/VP specialists who develop and support document writing, editing, and formatting. Many employees who participate in a proposal have real jobs elsewhere, and they are not fully immersed in the proposal development process. A great deal of EXA’s role is providing leadership to personnel regarding skill enhancement and coordination with other proposal writers.

Proposal Leadership

A tiny but critical detail among the thousands of RFP requirements increases perilously as proposal teams grow exhausted in the last days before the RFP closing date. EXA applies a proven proposal management process that simultaneously manages complexity along three dimensions:

RFP Requirements. We use a proven, high-level RFP requirements management methodology that easily maps onto a requirements management tool, such as DOORS™, or just as easily onto a cluster of spreadsheets, such as Excel™, while also ensuring bidirectional traceability between RFP requirements and proposal responses.

Document Development. EXA is unique in that we spearhead the writing and reviewing portion of document development. This includes distilling complex RFP requirements into manageable units, using those units to create a detailed outline, and solidifying a work package for each author that guides them through the process. To ensure proposal readiness, we subject each document through four stages of reviews.

People. We maintain a cadre of management, technical, financial, and ITB/VP specialists who develop and support document writing, editing, and formatting. A great deal of EXA’s role is providing leadership to personnel regarding skill enhancement and coordination with other proposal writers.

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Capture Leadership

From market segmentation to proposal development & planning, EXA provides the full spectrum of capture leadership services.

EXA delivers proven capture leadership in opportunity qualification, pursuit planning and costing, gate reviews, win strategy, black hat analysis, early solution development, corporate teaming, capture team formation, client intelligence, client meetings, and industry meetings. We can provide complete cradle-to-grave capture management support, or deliver any portions of capture management support along the full spectrum, as the client chooses.

EXA helps clients position their business development and capture strategies in unfamiliar markets and aids in identifying pursuit targets using strategic, business, and win probability factors. We support the capture planning for that opportunity, including timelines, resources, budgets, and win strategies and lead gate review preparation and black hat teams. Working hands on with your executives, proposal manager, and proposed project manager, we will support your team structure and solidify team decisions.